Coffee History: Melitta Bentz, Inventor of the Paper Filter

Of all the mad geniuses we have to thank for several centuries' worth of coffee-technology advancement, perhaps the person the vast majority of us owe the most gratitude to is a rather unlikely candidate: A housewife from Dresden, Germany. Specifically, the very enterprising (if maybe a little frumpy), apfelstrudel-baking mother of two Melitta Bentz, inventor of the paper filter.

As with most so-simple-it's-brilliant innovations, Bentz's invention was born out of irritation and annoyance. Fed up with the alternatives—such as having to constantly wring out stain-ridden cloth filters, or scrape coffee sludge off the bottom of unfiltered coffee pots—Bentz devised a simple (and, hallelujah, easily disposable!) filtration system by laying a regular old piece of paper over the perforated bottom of a brass pot. The result was a clean cup—and a relatively clean brewer, which of course would please any overextended housewife.

Within two years, she'd filed a patent on the design (formalized in 1908) and set up shop with her husband and sons, cranking out filters for caffeine-craving Germans. By the 1930s, the filter's original design had changed rather drastically, morphing from the flat-bottomed metal unit into a cone-shaped ceramic piece, with the unmistakable triangular-folded paper filter we know today.

Other styles of cone-shaped coffee filters.

While the company that bears Melitta's name is still a leader in drip-cone manufacturing, coffee-loving geeks, designers, and professionals all over the world have followed our gal's lead by making tweaks to Bentz's initial concept and striving for the perfect filter brew. Japanese companies like Beehouse and Bonmac are ahead of the pack, and fanatical pour-over-loving baristas will argue with blue faces about the best methods for extracting coffee using this or that brewer. ("Pour the water slowly." "No, all at once!" "It has to be added in a slow circle, moving from the middle outward, in a clockwise rotation." "No, counterclockwise!" And so on, ad nauseum.)

So the next time you blearily reach for a paper filter, anxious to get the lifeblood flowing with that first morning cup, don't forget to pour a little of the finished brew out for one solid dame we all owe a debt to: Good ol' Melitta Bentz.

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About the Author

For over a decade, Meister has lived a double life as both a writer and a coffee professional—though she has yet to figure out which is her Dr. Jekyll side and which Mr. Hyde. Her day job is as a member of the customer support team for Counter Culture Coffee, and she has written and/or edited for The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Slashfood.com, Time Out NY, BUST Magazine, Barista Magazine, and Chickpea Magazine in addition to her work with this fine site. On her own, she blogs about cooking adventures (and misadventures) at The Nervous Cook, and about learning to love the long run at Running While Smiling.

She, her husband, and their dog share a too-small Chelsea apartment that's stuffed to the gills with books, vintage clothes, and a whole lot of tchotchkes.

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